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Best Beaches to visit in 2015

From soft, white sand in French Polynesia to a once-famous beach in Haiti, these dramatic strands invite you to forget your worldy cares

Bora Bora: This tiny island in the middle of a coral atoll is located in French Polynesia. Its jagged mountain peaks, coconut palm groves and azure lagoon are almost too beautiful to be true. The sand at Matira Beach is white and perfect. (dreamstime)

By Erik HeinrichSpecial to the Star

Mon., Feb. 9, 2015

I never forget a gorgeous beach. That’s because a gorgeous beach can change your life . . . provide that zen moment when mind, body and spirit align with the planets and cosmos — and for a split second you think you’ve got it all figured out.

With this in mind, here’s a round up of the 10 best beaches to consider visiting in 2015, I’ve collected in the quest for serious relaxation and enlightenment over more than 40 years of travel.

1. Matira Beach, Bora Bora: This tiny island in the middle of a coral atoll is located in French Polynesia. Its jagged mountain peaks, coconut palm groves and azure lagoon are almost too beautiful to be true. The sand at Matira Beach is white and perfect. The water undulates with shades of turquoise and sapphire blue. Longnose butterflyfish swirl at your feet. Visit the Bora Diving Centre if you want to get up close and personal with the lagoon’s colony of manta rays.

2. Cable Beach, Broome: This former pearling capital located in the remote north of Western Australia is where the Great Sandy Desert meets the Indian Ocean. Cable Beach is a glorious, seven-kilometre swath of the finest white sand and azure water you are likely to find anywhere in Australia, maybe the world. The far end of Cable Beach is for nudists and the coolest place to hang with a few cold cans of Victoria Bitter. Too right!

3. Laughing Waters Beach, Ocho Rios: Jamaica is not particularly blessed when it comes to beaches, but this one is a stunner. Located next to a small waterfall that tumbles out of the jungle and into the sea, Laughing Waters is where the locals like to spearfish and chant up Babylon. The most unforgettable bikini entrance in movie history, Ursula Andress emerging from the Caribbean in the 1962 Bond film Dr. No, was shot here.

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4. Praia do Forte, Brazil: This little fishing village north of Salvador is designed for serious relaxation. The beach here is part of a seemingly endless track of coastline with swaying royal palms pressed tight against the Atlantic’s edge. Ideal for discovering one uninhabited slice of Robinson Crusoe paradise after another.

5. Jolly Beach, Antigua: This beach has perhaps the best mile-long stretch of white-powder beach in the Lesser Antilles, a strand of Caribbean islands stretching from Puerto Rico to South America. Perfect for body-surfing. Paul Roos has operated Jolly Dive at this beach for more than 30 years, specializing in black-tip reef sharks and eagle rays.

6. Watamu, Kenya: This village north of Mombassa on the Indian Ocean has what is probably East Africa’s most striking coastline. At low tide the ocean retreats into the far distance, which means you can meander around the seabed with the tops of rocky outcrops towering over your head. There is diving here and Capt. Peter Darnborough can take you out for the best black marlin fishing in East Africa.

7. Fairmont Mayakoba, Playa del Carmen: Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula is famous for its beaches, but perhaps the best of these is part of Toronto’s Fairmont Hotels & Resorts chain. The Mayakoba is a network of luxury villas built around a thick mangrove forest populated by cormorants and herons. The beach is broad, wide and generously endowed with velvety soft sand.

8. Hakai Beach, Calvert Island: This island is part of the Hakai Recreation Area located in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of British Columbia. The scenery is a stunning tapestry of archipelagos, inlets with spectacular beaches. Hakai Beach is covered in white silica sand and fringed by cedar, hemlock and spruce.

9. Langkawi Beach, Malaysia: Chalk-white sand, lush palms and unspoiled aquamarine water are the main attractions of this crackerjack beach located on the island of Pulau Langkawi on the Andaman Sea. The pace is slower and more relaxed here than nearby Phuket, Thailand.

10. Jacmel, Haiti: This former jewel of the French Caribbean is coming back to life with millions of dollars pouring in from the private sector. The city’s once-famous beach has been cleaned up and the old French Quarter behind is starting to bustle. This is the year to visit Jacmel before it’s overrun by the cruise-ship crowd. Montreal’s Air Transat is the only operator offering tours to Haiti.

My Best Beach

If you disagree with the choices of the best beaches or would like to suggest a beach you think should be on the list, send us a photo of your favourite beach plus 50-60 words on why it should be one of the best beaches to visit to My Favourite Beach at travel@thestar.ca with the words My Favourite Beach in the email Subject line. Photos must be between 500K and 6MB. Please include your phone number and address!

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